DATE:
TO:
FROM:
RE:
August 15, 2012
UW-L Faculty Senate (Steven Senger, Chair)
International Education Committee (David A. Anderson, Chair)
Final Report for the 2011-12 Academic Year
MEMBERS: David Anderson (Chair), Bianca Basten, Gretchen Berns (spring semester only),
Brian Manske, Patricia Ardovino, Mark Gibson, Leslee Poulton (fall semester
only), William Barillas,Sergey Komissarov (Secretary), Diane Sewell, Heidi
Morrison, Rafaela Stancic
NON-VOTING MEMBERS:
Eric Kraemer (International Studies), Jay Lokken (Office of
International Education [OIE]), Jason Kouba (OIE), Sandy Sieber
(OIE)
The International Education Committee for 2011-12 Academic Year was convened on August
31, 2011 by David A. Anderson the chair of the committee for 2010-11 Academic Year. David
Anderson was elected Chair again for the 2011-12 AY and Sergey Komissarov was elected as
Secretary. The IEC was very active this year and had ten very productive meetings.
The IEC was asked by the Faculty Senate to consider and report on the following special charge:
•
When UWL faculty are involved in non-UWL sponsored international
programs there can be concerns about maintaining clear delineation
of the faculty members role in the program. Review issues connected
with UWL faculty involvement in such programs and if appropriate
make recommendations for Senate approval.
While the IEC had several productive discussions concerning the special charge, we were unable
to specifically address the charge and develop formal recommended procedures and policies for
the Senate. This failure to complete the special charge was a result of a large number of new and
recurring faculty-led international experience proposals submitted to the IEC for consideration
and approval during the 2011-12 Academic Year. While this charge has not been completed,
recommendations for proceeding with this charge next year are presented below.
Review of Faculty-led International Experiences:
The IEC met nearly every other week in order to process and review proposals for new and
recurring faculty-led international experiences. Over the course of the year, we reviewed and
approved nine (9) proposals for new programs and two (2) recurring programs. In addition we
received update reports from faculty organizers on the in-progress planning of two programs
which were approved in the previous year and reviewed and approved the post-trip assessment
reports and oral presentations by faculty leaders of three (3) additional programs. Finally, the
committee met with three (3) additional faculty members who are considering making formal
proposal submissions in the future to the IEC. These meetings were extremely productive and
allowed the IEC members to offer advice and suggestions that the faculty can consider in term
planning process. This practice of making the IEC available to faculty prior to the formal
submission of a proposals so that questions by both the committee and the faculty can be asked
and the academic context of the program discussed has proved to be very valuable over the last
several years. It has helped first time faculty leaders to consider issues and approaches they may
not have already thought of or considered and has resulted in much stronger proposals with welldeveloped academic content for the trips and much quicker approvals by the committee when the
formal proposal is submitted. We highly encourage future chairs and members of the IEC to
continue this process.
Review of International Programs/Curriculum
1) Other items which were reviewed by the IEC under its by-laws this year included the review
and approval of the creation of a Middle East Emphasis in the International Studies minor
program. Eric Kraemer presented the proposed purpose and requirements of the Emphasis and
the IEC unanimously approved the Emphasis as presented for submission to the UCC for
consideration.
2) At the request of OIE, a discussion was initiated by the IEC concerning the manner in which
foreign language courses are listed in the course catalog and the effects this may be having on
registration numbers. Less frequently offered languages such as Japanese, Hebrew (both Modern
and Biblical) and Arabic are listed in the WINGS registration systems under the generic Modern
Languages course number MLG 101, 102, 201, 202 with the individual language being called
out only by separate section numbers and “Topic” names. Further the offering of these
languages at UWL is not discussed in the current catalog. Other more regularly offered and
more frequently taken languages such as French, Spanish and German are listed under their own
sections in the catalog and their own course prefixes such as FRE, SPA and GER. This has led
students to confusion among the students as to the offering of Japanese, Arabic and Hebrew and
the erroneous conclusion in many cases that a particular language is either not offered at UWL or
is not being offered in a particular semester when they go to registration. This confusion is also
present among faculty members responsible for advising students. Further, even when a faculty
advisor knows that a particular language is being offered in a particular term, they have had
problems finding it in the catalog/WINGS. Ultimately, this confusion by students and faculty
may be directly related to the low enrollments some of the periodically offered languages have
seen in the past several years.
The IEC respectfully recommends that this issue be discussed by representatives of the Modern
Languages Department, Records and Registration, Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, Office
of International Education and any other parties as appropriate, to develop and implement
possible solutions to the problem. Possible solutions which were discussed by the IEC included
the creation of separate ARA, HEB, JAP prefixes or to have separate call out sections in the
catalog under Modern Languages for each of these languages.
3) At the request of former provost Enz-Finken, the IEC continued a review and revision of the
guidelines and procedures for the International Development Fund grant program. This review
was started by the IEC during the 2010-11 academic year and continued this year. The IEC
developed suggested revisions to the current procedures and guidelines based on discussions
between David Anderson (chair IEC 2010-11 and 2011-12), Provost Enz-Finken, Jay Lokken
and the Dean’s Council which took place during the review of IDF proposals. These proposed
revisions were far advanced, but not finish, nor was a final vote of approval taken by the IEC.
Work on these revisions were halted when the Chair of the IEC was contacted by Brian
Udermann and Keith Beyer and informed that the IDF guidelines and proposal process was
going to be reviewed and revised as part of a larger effort to systemize and standardize the
internal grant proposal process at UWL. At that time, the current proposed revisions which were
developed by the IEC were forwarded onto Brian and Keith for consideration. The IEC
recommends that given the role of the IEC in the review and awarding of funds under the IDF
that the IEC continue to be involved and consulted before any changes are finalized and
implemented to the grant process for the IDF.
Recommendations concerning the Special Charge
While the IEC was not able to discuss at length and develop specific recommended
policies/procedures for the Senate to review concerning the special charge for AY2011-12, we
do have the following thoughts on the charge and recommendations to the Senate when
developing charges for next year’s IEC. First, the issue covered by the special charge is an
important one which does need to be resolved and formal policies/procedures put in place to deal
with such situations. While there are some issues which arise in these situations concerning
curricula and the awarding of academic credit for the participation in such programs by students,
the most important issues concern liability to both UWL, UW System, and the individual faculty
member(s) participating in the external programs. Therefore, the IEC recommends that the
Senate form a special ad-hoc committee to specifically address the issues raised by the special
charge. We further respectfully recommend that this ad-hoc committee have representatives
from the administration, IEC, OIE, Dean’s Council as well as UWL legal counsel and possibly
UW System legal.
Additional Recommendation
For at least the past four years a member of the Provost Select Committee on Internationalization
(PSCI) has also been serving as a member of the IEC. Having a member from each committee
serving on the other has allowed for close coordination between the two committees on various
issues concerning internationalization at UW-L. While the cross-membership has proved to be
valuable, it has been entirely coincidental with a member of the PSCI independently requesting
assignment to the IEC during the annual Faculty Senate committee selection process. In order to
maintain and solidify this valuable cooperation and coordination between the committees, the
IEC respectfully recommends that this cross-membership with the PSCI become formalized and
guaranteed each year. We recommend that this be accomplished by the Faculty Senate adding a
new ex-officio, non-voting member to the IEC who is either the current Chair of the PSCI or a
duly elected member of the PSCI chosen by the PSCI membership. This individual would attend
the meetings of both committees and provide updates on the activities of each to the other, as
well as provide for coordination on joint efforts between the committees.
Conclusions
In conclusion, the IEC would like to thank all the various members of the faculty, staff and
administration with whom they have worked over the last year. We saw an unusually large
number of proposals for new international programs this year which is very encouraging for the
continued success of internationalization at UWL.